


Winter's Rest

by Reioka



Series: Yeti AU [8]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Domestic Fluff, Human Tony, M/M, Mpreg, Yeti Bucky, winter celebration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-04
Updated: 2021-01-04
Packaged: 2021-03-14 08:42:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,978
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28542735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reioka/pseuds/Reioka
Summary: The pass the humans use to traverse the mountains have closed. It's time to celebrate.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark
Series: Yeti AU [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2076498
Comments: 7
Kudos: 262





	Winter's Rest

**Author's Note:**

> Yetis don’t celebrate a religious holiday, per se (although I am howling over the concept of a Yeti Jesus) but they do celebrate when the snow makes the only pass humans can use to get to their caves impassible, because they don’t have to be on their guards against any attacks from the Base Dwellers, and the holiday is called Winter’s Rest. It’s basically like a holiday party with sweets and drinks and dancing.

Winter's Rest

“Today the day?” Tony murmured when he felt Bucky shuffling out from under the furs and blankets. He started to squirm after him.

Bucky turned and put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. “Shh. Steve and I are just going to check. If the pass is still clear, I’ll just come and get back in bed.”

Tony blinked up at him, bleary-eyed, as Bucky began tucking the blankets around him again, trying to bat his hands away. “But I’m your mate. Won’t it be in bad taste if the second-in-command’s mate isn’t there?”

“First of all, you just want to come because you like how Steve sweats when the Elders gossip about the fact that he has no mate and he should really get on it,” Bucky pointed out, amused. He reached down to cup his mate’s slightly-rounded stomach with one hand. “And secondly, no one is going to ask where you are. Besides, if the pass _is_ covered, I’ll come get you anyway. You’ll need help with the robes.”

“Are all yetis so possessive of their pregnant mates,” Tony complained, but it sounded mostly good-natured. He mewed quietly as the yeti bent down for a kiss, hands going down to cover Bucky’s on his stomach. “Mm!”

Bucky kissed him a little longer before pulling back with a smile. “Some yetis are. Some yetis aren’t. I don’t want anyone to see you until I’ve finished your new shirt.”

“Don’t want some young yeti seeing my stomach and being overcome with lust for my nubile body?” Tony teased.

“You joke, but I _will_ actually throw another yeti across a cave if they even look at you a second too long,” Bucky replied, patting his stomach gently. “Stay here. The snow probably hasn’t covered the pass yet, and then I’ll come in, dry off, and come back to bed. It would be nice if my mate was in here keeping my bed warm.”

“Is that all I am to you? A bed-warmer? A convenient womb?” Tony scoffed.

Bucky leaned in for another kiss before he finally got up, pulling the blankets back up over his mate. “Nothing about you has ever been convenient, and I hope you know that I’m saying that with all of the love in my heart,” he told him, raising his eyebrows in challenge.

“Ouch,” Tony said without heat, snuggling back down under the blankets. “Well, go on then. I’ll be your obedient, inconvenient bed-warmer.”

“Obedient my foot,” Bucky scoffed, leaning down to press a kiss to the top of his head. “Go back to sleep. I’ll wake you back up if the pass is blocked.”

“Hurry back,” Tony murmured, tipping his head to kiss whatever part he could reach before he snuggled back under the blankets.

Bucky paused a moment to just watch him breathe, heart flipping over in his chest as his mate’s breathing quickly evened back out into sleep. Then he shook himself, reminding himself that he needed to check the pass with Steve, and turned to leave before Steve came barging in for him.

.-.-.-.

Tony heard Bucky coming into the den and huffed, shuffling back a little so there would be room for him. “Can we have sex? ‘m kinda horny.”

“No,” Bucky answered immediately, as if it was punched out of him. Tony poked his head up out of the blankets, confused, then squealed when he realized Steve was standing next to Bucky and quickly pulled the blankets up over his head.

“I can leave if you guys need a minute,” Steve said, amused.

Bucky bared his teeth, glaring at him. “You think I could finish in a minute?”

“I don’t think about you guys having sex at all,” Steve replied with a shrug, not threatened in the slightest. “Tony, the pass is closed. Are you coming with us to ring the bell?”

Tony threw all the blankets off with an offended scoff. “And miss the chance to have the Elders fawn over my belly and give me sweets? Honestly, Steve, it’s like you don’t know me at all.” He paused when he noticed Bucky fussing with the ceremonial robes he’d made and rolled his eyes. “Oh, so I can’t show my belly to anyone but Steve?”

“Steve’s an idiot when it comes to mating. Why would I care?” Bucky asked him, frowning.

Steve gasped in affront, putting his hands on his hips so he could turn and give Bucky the full brunt of his displeased expression. “Hey!”

“Oh shut up, Steve,” Bucky muttered as he helped Tony into the sleeves of his robe. “You’ve been aggressively courted by, like, fifteen other yetis, and you had no idea.”

“It’s true,” Tony said while Steve sputtered in disbelief. “I thought Sharon was gonna punch you.”

“ _Sharon_ was courting me?” Steve exclaimed.

Tony turned to give him his best bitch-face. “Steve,” he said, voice dripping with disdain, before he grabbed Bucky’s shoulders so that he could step into his pants.

“Don’t just fucking say my name! Give me an answer!” Steve spluttered, then scowled when Bucky began leading Tony out of the den. “Hey! Hey! Don’t walk away from me!”

“Don’t be a fucking idiot when it comes to mating,” Bucky called back. “And hurry up, or Tony’s gonna ring the bell without you, and then he’s going to tell the Elders _exactly why_ you didn’t.”

“’s fuckin’ blackmail, is what it is,” Steve muttered petulantly as he stomped after them.

On the other hand, he got to watch Tony get absolutely incensed when Bucky insisted on carrying him after a few minutes before he got tired, and watching the human slap at his mate while Bucky was in yeti form was absolutely comical.

.-.-.-.

The pass closing meant a party celebrating the end of the season. No humans could come up the mountain safely, and the yetis could afford to let their guards down a little.

The Elders spent most of the party stuffing Tony with sweets while giving Steve some pretty lethal side-eye and saying, ‘perhaps if _you_ had a mate, we’d be spoiling them, too.’ Tony thrived on Steve’s sour expression, even if he did sneak most of his sweets to the whelps when the Elders weren’t looking.

“How many whelps are you planning on?” Peggy asked Tony between sips of hot punch, watching as Steve and Bucky led some of the younger yetis in the traditional celebration dance.

“Oh, we’re starting with one and seeing how it goes,” Tony answered, free hand unconsciously rubbing up and down his stomach.

Peggy looked him up and down slowly with a quiet ‘hmm.’ “I see,” she said.

Tony glanced at her out of the side of his eyes, frowning. “What was that ‘hmm’ for? And don’t think I didn’t notice how weird that ‘I see’ sounded.”

“You want more than one,” Peggy stated, tone brooking no argument. “You should tell him that.”

Tony turned his attention back to Bucky, watching as his claws clicked together delicately on a turn-and-stomp. “…One would be enough,” Tony said, and meant it. Being able to have one had been a trial in and of itself. If Bucky only wanted one, he was fine with that.

Peggy just frowned at him and went ‘hmm’ again before she forced another piece of fudge on him.

.-.-.-.

“You may carry me back to the den,” Tony told Bucky magnanimously.

“Is that your way of saying you had too much food and punch?” Bucky asked, amused, but carefully scooped him up anyway. “Party’s still in full swing. Usually you like to stay longer.”

“I’m not usually pregnant,” Tony answered, wrapping his arms around his neck and burying his face in Bucky’s soft fur. He nuzzled into it and sighed, then leaned back, so he could speak directly into one floppy ear. “And I’m still a little horny.”

“Bye everyone!” Bucky called out, hustling out of the cavern, and didn’t care that the rest of the clan was laughing and jeering after them playfully. It didn’t cover up Tony’s delighted chuckle. “You know I’m going to be sleeping a lot more now, though, don’t you?” he added, just to be sure. “All of us will.”

“There’s a few other humans here now,” Tony pointed out. “Bruce, and Pepper, and a couple other locals. The Elders don’t sleep as much, either, so if I want yeti company, I can have some. I’ll be fine.” He leaned back to smirk up at him. “Why? Are you worried I’ll find someone else to help me when I’m feeling kinda horny?”

“No,” Bucky answered immediately, and then scowled down at him. “You know that’s not what I meant. I know humans are social—you, especially. I don’t want you to feel lonely.”

Tony’s smirk faded into a smile that he desperately tried to hide by ducking his head. “This isn’t my first winter with you, Bucky. I got along just fine during the other ones.”

“But this time you’re whelping,” Bucky pointed out, voice serious. “What if you need help?”

“Bucky, I have no doubt that if I were in any sort of distress, you’d wake up immediately,” Tony answered gently. “And Pepper and Bruce have already promised to come check on me more, just in case. I’ll be fine. So will the baby.”

Bucky sighed, frowning, as he set Tony down in their den and began helping him out of his robes. “I’m just worried.”

“We planned it like this, remember?” Tony reminded him. “So that you’d definitely be awake all the time when the baby arrived in the spring.”

“Tactical error,” Bucky mumbled petulantly. “Now I’ll be useless while you’re pregnant.”

“I’d rather you miss these parts than the parts of raising an actual infant,” Tony assured him. “Besides, I doubt you’ll just roll over back to sleep if I nudged you and said the baby started kicking.”

Bucky looked down at Tony’s stomach, still feeling vaguely ill-at-ease, but this had been the plan, and they’d talked long and hard about it before agreeing on it together. “Alright,” he agreed reluctantly.

Tony put his hand on one of Bucky’s claws to go up on his toes and press a kiss to his chin. “Will the one bed be okay? I won’t disturb you when I get up?”

Bucky gathered him up in his arms so he could kiss him properly, carrying him over to the bed and laying him across it. “It was okay when you weren’t pregnant. I liked feeling your movements, especially at the end of the day when you’d cuddle up with me again. I’ll like it even more now that we’ve got a whelp on the way.”

“I’ll make sure to cuddle extra close this winter then,” Tony said, then squealed when Bucky leaned down to nuzzle his stomach with his furry face. “Oh!”

“You be good to your whelper while I’m napping,” Bucky told his belly sternly.

Tony couldn’t help but smile. “If its anything like you, it definitely will.” Bucky looked up at him and grinned so wide that it showed off all of his sharp teeth. Tony wondered how any human could find the expression terrifying when all he could see was love and adoration. “Sam is bringing the rest of my sweets tomorrow morning,” he added.

Bucky’s face immediately fell. “More sweets?”

“The Elders had a lot of time on their hands this year, I guess,” Tony said demurely.

Bucky didn’t look so sure, because Tony had a notorious sweet tooth, but he decided not to argue about it. “Suppose I better make sure you’re well-sated before he gets here then,” he decided, crawling up Tony’s body. “He always complains more than Steve when he catches us.”

“Happy Winter’s Rest,” Tony cooed, reaching up to cup his cheeks.

“Happy Winter’s Rest,” Bucky rumbled back, allowing himself to be drawn down into a kiss.


End file.
